New Delhi: As monsoon rains move across India—usually a boom time for the agriculture sector—farmers have left their land and taken to the streets amid growing anger over falling food prices and high debts.
With protests spreading around the country, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is under pressure to provide more incentives. A drop in food prices spurred deadly clashes last week, while India’s food inflation fell into negative territory, dropping 1.05% from a 0.61% rise in April, data on Monday showed.
Farmers are a powerful voting bloc, and the government already faces criticism for not making significant progress towards its promise of doubling farmers’ income by 2022 and ensuring a 50% profit over the cost of production of crops.
“There will be tremendous pressure on the Modi government from farmers and young people looking for employment,” said political scientist and pro-vice chancellor of Bengaluru’s Jain University, Sandeep Shastri. “These are the two biggest challenges the government will face in the coming years—in both these areas very little has been done in concrete terms.” Read More.....
With protests spreading around the country, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is under pressure to provide more incentives. A drop in food prices spurred deadly clashes last week, while India’s food inflation fell into negative territory, dropping 1.05% from a 0.61% rise in April, data on Monday showed.
Farmers are a powerful voting bloc, and the government already faces criticism for not making significant progress towards its promise of doubling farmers’ income by 2022 and ensuring a 50% profit over the cost of production of crops.
“There will be tremendous pressure on the Modi government from farmers and young people looking for employment,” said political scientist and pro-vice chancellor of Bengaluru’s Jain University, Sandeep Shastri. “These are the two biggest challenges the government will face in the coming years—in both these areas very little has been done in concrete terms.” Read More.....